SAO- A alternate tale Warrior Art Online
by OminousStar
Summary: For Rin Tsuki video games are his escape his way of dodging his painful past. He thought it was a chance of a lifetime to get to play the new VRMMORPG Warrior Art Online little did he know what tragedy he was getting into. Will he find something good in this terrible world? Will he finally move on from his past? Contains elements from SAO,GGO,and my own elements.OCXFemKirito HIATUS
1. Genesis

OminousStar here thanks for clicking on this I'm farily new to FanFic writing so any feedback is most appreciated and helpful Um first I know the first chapter is kinda slow and nothing new but the characters had to be introduced I promise things will get exciting soon.

 _Inner thoughts_

[Sword and system messages]

* * *

Genesis

Swords and guns I thought I'd just be getting the ultimate gaming experience little did I know of the pain and suffering that would take place there instead. At the same time they say every dark cloud has it's sliver lining I regret what happened there but it was something I had to go through to help me find peace and strength and most importantly I found her.

November 2 12:59 A.M.

I sat in my apartment looking out the widow. I was bored to death of waiting but it was just another minute now. I sighed. _I_ _just wanted the servers online already_.

Warrior Art Online's servers were online as of today and I had a free copy courtesy of my friend Tadashi, since his dad worked for the company It wasn't hard for him get a couple."No problem what are friends for?" he had said.

 _Right. Friends. I didn't understand why someone like Tadashi was friends with someone like me he was popular, kind, handsome, and me well I was none of those things._

I shook those thoughts from my mind. I was actually excited for once and it felt good I shouldn't ruin it with dark thoughts. I looking over at the clock I realized it was 1:05.

 _Well the servers should definitely be on now._ I grabbed the Nerve gear helmet and placed it on my head and hoped down on my bed. "Link start." I said and the game booted up. I didn't know the chain of events that I had just thrown myself into but it would leave me forever changed.

I created my character look way different than me. In real life I had shoulder length slivery white spiky hair pale skin and pink eyes. I was constantly picked on before about being my albino appearance, it was a touchy thing for me. I made my character look around my height and age I made my hair short and orange and my eye's green. I was horrible at user names so I just used my last name Tsuki.

 _I like it._ I thought looking over my character with a grin.

I confirmed my selection and started the game. I was teleported in the middle of a city right in the middle of dozens of players. Tadashi was a beta tester I think he called this the SBC Glocken or city of beginnings. _This is like nothing I've seen before it was so realistic._ I was in awe of the beauty of the how alive the game felt, It was a futuristic cityscape tall Skyscrapers that seemed impossiblely tall, halographic signs with advertisements, and far in the distance a large black dome.

I was taking it all in when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find a unfamiliar looking guy standing there. His hair was a dark red one side hung down covering his right eye which was a lighter red, he was wearing what looked like a light protective vest, black and white camouflage pants, and armored boots

."It's pretty spectacular huh?" The guy says with a great deal of familiarity.

"Um yeah, sorry do I know you?"

"Rin only you could only think of your last name for your handle." The red haired guy said a familiar smirk crossing his face.

"Tadashi?" I asked.

"Of course it's Hoshi here though, I told you I'd meet you here."

"Oh right I kinda forgot." I said scratching the back of my head.

"Yeah your first full dive will do that to you." He said laughing a bit. "Well let's get you some weapons." He said.

"Alright."

We walked a short distance till we we stopped in front of a shop that had a Halographic sign that said 'Weapons'. As we stepped in my jaw nearly dropped at the amount of guns and swords, etc. as an advid gamer I was pretty excited until I spotted a shelf that had a selection of combat knives.

I couldn't move no matter how much I willed my body to, I could only stand there staring at them.

 _I blood curdling scream pirced my ears, and my hands stained a dark crimson._

 _It's not happening.. it's not happening.. It's not_

"Rin you okay?" Tadashi asked followimg my eye's to the knives.

Tadashi's voice quickly snapped me out of it. "Yeah." I said breathing finally."I'm fine, I'm fine let's get some weapons." I smiled a bit to sell that I was fine. He looked me in my eyes for a second then shrugged.

"Okay than what catches Your eye?" He asked. "You got your Tech guns which focus more on rate of fire and don't need to reload, their great for mobs ,then you have your live fire guns which focus more on DPS great for players and mobs but the ammo and guns tend to be heavier."

I looked at what I believed to be a submachine gun.

"I like this." I said, leaning in for a closer look.

"Micro Uzi eh?" he walking over. "Great for laying down covering fire but it's pretty inaccurate you usually have to get up close and personal, but there are some pretty good attachments for it." He said.

"I like up close and personal." I said, as I looked at the price and checked my Menu looking at money. "Okay, definitely can't afford that." I said with a disappointed sigh.

"Don't worry I've got plenty." Tadashi opens his menu makes a couple of clicks.

[Cor received from Hoshi] The notification had appeared almost instantly.

"Tadashi you didn't-" " I started in protest.

"Don't worry about it were friends." He said cutting me off.I sighed inwardly, when he made up his mind to help there was no changing it.

I purchased the micro Uzi and equipped it holstered at my side. I also picked out a large combat knife as my side arm. _It's just a game._ I told myself as I picked out the knife. _I can handle it if it's just a game._

"Oh and take this." Tadashi picked up some strange looking silver octagonal object. "Their free it's a shield module." I take it and put on the octagonal thing which was apparently equipped at the waist.

"I think it's time you learn about combat." We left the shop and headed outside the town.

We were in a grassy plain stalking a boar. Tadashi had equipped a semi auto rifle with a scope and bipod. I had my micro Uzi equipped.

"Okay aim down the sights at the boar." He said.

I did and a pulsing green circle appeared.

"Okay you should be seeing the gun circle where your aiming and it's growing and shrinking right?"

"Yeah." I said, I was trying to keep the reticle on target but it was too unstable.

"Okay calm your heart rate and breathing and it shouldn't do that as as much."

I do as instructed taking a few deep breaths and calming myself, soon the circle was pulsing and figeting a heck of a lot less.

"Okay it's pulsing a lot less."

"When your ready take the shot and drop the boar." I lined up with the boars head and took three shots. All three connected two grazing and one hitting it in the head, for a split second I noticed a red line with each shot I fired. The boar burst into pixels and disappeared.

"Nice shot for a beginner, could've been better."

"Yeah let's see you do better." I challenged.

With a smirk Tadashi got on his stomach, flipped out his bipod, and aimed at another boar. "500 meters away no problem."

He fired a single shot piercing it's head and it exploded into pixels. "Okay that was impressive." I said admittedly.

"Oh I know." he said smugly.

"You notice that red line with each shot we fired those are called prediction lines excluding the the first shot from a sniper rifle those always appear as a indication of where the bullets will go, A player can use those to avoid getting filled with holes if you're fast enough." He said standing up and brushing himself off.

"Now I'll show you how to use sword skills. He pulled out the large almost machete sized knife similar to mine from the sheath on his side.

"You perform the initial motion until you feel the skill begin to activate and then release." He draws back until his Knife glows blue and then he released a horizontal slash.

"That was [Horizontal] a pretty basic sword skill." He explained "Now you try."

I drew the knife, from the sheath on my back, hesitantly. A cold shiver down my spine and I froze for a second. _The weight of the blade feels exactly the same._

"Rin?" Tadashi said giving me a curious look.

"Oh sorry about that." I copy his motion perfectly unleashing a horizontal slash but strangely I noticed only for a split second I couldn't move.

"Again pretty good." he said."I saw you noticed the movement penalty that sword skils have, that was minor the more complex the skill the longer it is."

"Gotcha."

"The last thing I'm gonna teach you is your shields and health."

"You probably already guessed that grey bar with a white shield icon next to it is your shield right?"

I nodded.

"When you take damage the number next to the shield should begin to deplete that means your shields are being damaged,but some attacks your shield might not protect you from completely or at all, that's when the big green one drains that's your health and both tend to regenerate very slowly over time."

"Now you know the basics of the game."

"I've got a little test, that is if your up for it?" He said.

"Oh I'm up for it, what did you have in mind?"

"Lets see who can kill the most boars!" He said. "Loser buys winner a beef bowl."

"Wait from your Gramps shop right?" I asked my mouth watering and he nodded.

"You. Are. On." I said quickly drawing my gun. We both took off and start mowing down boars.

After a while he'd managed to kill 50 and I killed 45.

We were both laying back in the grassy plain, looking up at the setting sun.

"Well you almost beat the master." He said smugly again.

"Yeah, yeah hotshot, when I get better I'm gonna wipe the floor with you." I say punching his arm lightly.

 _We both shared a laugh. I had fun that was something that didn't happen often I'm glad Tadashi is my friend he's the only one I have usually I drive people off but not him._

I opened my menu to check the time. _5:29._

"Crap I gotta go!" I said hurriedly bolting to my feet." my Grandmother's coming over today and she'll kill me if she sees my room the way it is."

"You mean kill you again." He said chuckling.

"Shut up."

"Well.." He said as he stood up and stretched..

" I'm gonna go hunt a bit more before I call it a day." Tadashi says. "So I guess I'll see ya later for my my beef bowl."

"Yeah, Yeah, see ya." I opened up my menu and scrolled down. _Where's the log out button?_ I double then triple checked before I turned to Tadashi.

 _"_ Hey is the log out button missing from yours too?" I asked.

"Of course n-" He started. "Wait it is..." He said with a slight pause.

"That's weird but I guess you can expect bugs like that on the first day." As he said that for some reason I got this ominous feeling, some thing felt...Wrong.

Suddenly we were engulfed in the same light that appeared when we ported here. We were suddenly in the town square of the beginning city right in front of the black castle like dome. Along with thousands of other players, who all seemed as surprised as us.

"What the heck?" Tadashi said in surprise, His reaction shared by me and many of the other players.

"Tadashi what is going on?" He opened his mouth to answer me but was cut off as a giant robed figure appeared overhead. "Who or what the hell is that!" Someone exclaimed pointing at the large figure.

"I am Akihiko Kayaba and welcome to my world." The faceless figure announced. _Akihiko Kayaba the game creator?_

"Judging from the amount of calls I've received I'm sure by now,you've all realized an important feature missing from the menu the log out button." I noticed a couple of players check there menus, clearly unaware.

"It is not a defect but how the game was designed."

"He's not serious right?" Someone nearby asked.

"You can no longer log out and no one will be able to shutdown down or remove the nerve gear from your head any attempts to do so and a microwave signal will be transmitted from the inside the hemet and into skull frying your brain and ending your life."

I stood frozen in shock of what he had just said. _Is this real can he really be doing this?_ As I look over at Tadashi I realized he had a similar look of shock.

"Tadashi you don't think this is true do you." I ask. "It all works out the nerve gear has an internal battery and transmits microwave signals he's... he's not lying." My heart sunk at those words.

"Despite my warning 213 people have already died from friends or family attempting to remove the nerve gear, unfortunate to say the least."

"As you can see international news outlets have been covering everything including the deaths." As he said this screens poped up with reporters and shots of grieving people and titles like 'Death game'. "So the threat of someone removing the nerve gear at this point is minimal I hope that gives you some comfort as you attempt to clear the game."

Everyone was stunned into a dead silence.

"There are two important things to remember there are no longer any ways to revive a player if your HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system and the nerve gear will simultaneously destroy your brain." Kayaba continued. "The only way for a player to escape the game now is too clear the game, you are currently on the first floor of the lowest level of Arincrad Complete the dungeon and beat the boss and you can progress to the next floor, Beat the boss on floor one hundred and everyone left at that point is free to go."

"One hundred, didn't the beta testers only make it to ten!" I hear someone shout amongst the thousands of cries of protest.

"Tadashi did you guys really only make it to ten?" I asked, silently hoping that they had made it higher. He noded grimly.

"And one more thing I've placed a special present in the inventory of every player please take a look." Kayaba said.

[Item(s) Received]

I opened my inventory to find...a hand mirror? I take it out and peer into it. _What the hell is this supposed to do?_ Suddenly I'm engulfed in light.

"Rin!" Tadashi shouts only to be engulfed along with everybody else. The light faded and for some reason I felt different. I looked over to Tadashi to ask if he was okay when I finally noticed.

"What was th-" I started but stop as what just happened begins to make sense. Tadshi looked exactly like he did in the real world. His hair was much shorter and not blood red but a light brown and his eyes a darker brown.

"Rin your-" He started. "You too." I said "The nerve gear must have got our physical data from the calibration at the beginning."

He noded. "But why do this in the first place?" Tadashi asked.

"Im sure at this point your wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba creator of nerve gear and Warrior art online do this, It's simple to control the fate of a world of my creation and I've achieved that goal." Kayaba stated.

How simple he made all this sound was really pissing me off. _All this to fulfill some god complex_.My grip tightened on my gun.

"This concludes the tutorial to WAO and players I wish you good luck." With that the hooded figure turned to gas and disappeared.

There was a long silence and nobody moved, hell it felt like nobody even breathed and then all hell broke loose. People panicked yelling, screaming, and crying ,I even saw someone faint on the spot.

I was frozen not sure how to feel I couldn't move I was at a loss.

Someone grabbed me and pulled me into a alley, I didn't resist I couldn't.

"Rin we have to go!" They shouted. Snapping out of it I realized it was Tadashi.

"Go where,, do what exactly, we're gonna die here no matter what we do." I said already feeling defeated, this wasn't a game anymore it was life or death.

"No we're not I have a plan were gonna live just follow me." He said placing his hands on my shoulder and giving me a grin brimming with confidence.

I wasn't sure if I believed him or not but what else was there to do just sit here and wait for death.

I nodded.

"Just follow me buddy and we'll make it." He said smiling confidentiality and ran off and I was right on his heels.

 _He made it sound easy his bravery gave me hope and I followed him. Maybe just maybe we would make it out of this 'Death game'_

 _Next chapter Survivors_

Please leave a review criticism helps improvement and thank you for reading.


	2. Survivors

Hi OminousStar here. I know some of you are wondering why make Kirito a girl? Well It's simple I wanted to. Oh just so you know the reason this update came so soon is because I had the time. Well that's all on with the story.

 _Inner thoughts and flashbacks are in Italics._

Survivors

November 23, 2022

"Boss man, It's coming your way!" I warned Tadashi as a large wolf-like creature shot out of the forest and right at him.

Tadashi pulled out his knife and cut its throat as it leaped for him. As that wolf burst into pixels another three came shooting out and at me. I let loose a single burst from my micro Uzi and all three dissolved into pixels.

"Tsuki behind you!" Tadashi shouted. I turned to find another wolf jumping at my throat. A thunderous sound echoed through the forest and the wolf bursts into pixels inches away from my face.

 _Oh yeah, I forgot about_ _Sinon._ I looked up to the tree she fired from. "Thanks for that!" I called out to her. She gave me quick a thumbs up then went back to looking through her scope. _We'd only met her a week ago but she really was already becoming our friend._

 _A week earlier_

It was early the sun was in the sky shining brightly but it wasn't hot a cool breeze blew through. Me and Tadashi were trekking through the deep part of the forest just coming back from a quest to the Inn in Honruka where we rented a room.

"Hey Tsuki.." Tadashi said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, boss man." I'd started calling him that because ya know he's the leader between the two of us. He sighed the name may have slightly annoyed him.

"Why do you tense up everytime you see or hold a knife." He asked. The question caught me off guard I never really knew if he noticed or not.

"Well..." I trailed off.

 _Answer him idiot! He saved you for life, you at least owe him an answer!_

I was torn to he was my best friend he always had my back here and in the outside world but I was afraid of what he'd think that he'd know my true nature. Would I be left alone again because of it?

"Hey, you don't have to answer." He put a hand on my shoulder. " I was just curious, sorry if I hit a nerve or something." I could see the compassion in his eye's. He was always kind never pushy or angry and I couldn't even answer his question.

"Sorry 'I'll tell you one day it's just-" A loud bang echoed through the forest cutting me off.

"Dammit!" Someone shouted angrily followed by another bang.

"What was that?" I asked tensing up, hand on my gun. There was a rumor going around about players killing other players, I didn't know how true it was but I was on guard anyways.

"I don't know but I think we should check it out, Could be someone in trouble." Tadashi and he rushed off towards where the sound came from.

"Wait up!" I called, rushing off behind him.

As we approached there were several more gunshots followed by a roar. We sped up pushing through the brush, as we emerged into the clearing we saw the beast. A huge bear with armor plates all over it and even a helmet stood upon its hind legs towering over a girl with three slash marks across her stomach.

The the bear [Armored Ursa] ,as his name read, the bear was bearing down on the girl swinging wildly, she jumped back and quickly sheathed the sniper rifle in her hand across her back and drew a glock with an extended clip pointed it at the bear and fired. Every round bounced harmly off his armor and she cursed again.

Tadashi drew his rifle and I drew my micro Uzi. "Hey metal head!" I shouted firing a short burst hammering the back of it's armored head. The bear turned and roared at me in fury.

"I'll keep it busy." I told Tadashi, with a nod be rushed over to heal the injured girl. The bear charged looking for blood. I waited for it to get close then sliced at its partially exposed legs, It's HP dropped some but that only slowed it down. It turned swinging it's claws in an extra fast flurry cutting me a few good times. His enraged assault forced me to dodge roll away to avoid him, As I rolled I pulled an incendiary grenade from my belt. A quick pin pull and toss the grenade landed right under him, mid roar the explosion and flames consumed the bear.

I turned to Tadashi and the girl. "Well that was e-" A monsterous roar cut me off.

Reluctantly I turned around to find the bear was not only still alive but now a red aura surrounded him, and to top off my rotten luck it's HP was also regenerating.

"What is this some sort of rage mode?" I asked.

"I think so." the girl said.

"It's a field boss." Tadashi adds.

 _Damn a field boss there's no telling what it can do then._

The bear stood on its hind legs and gave another mighty roar.

"Tsuki we'll focus our fire on his head." Tadashi said his game face now on.

I nodded, reloading my gun.

He turned to the sniper girl.

"Miss do you have any rounds left in your rifle?"

"Yeah, just one." She said.

"Okay, when his helmet shatters take the shot okay?"

"Got it."

Our plan in place Tadashi and I charged the [Armored Ursa] screaming a battlecry. I leaped over the bear and empty the rest of my clip shooting his helmet, Tadashi fire his rounds in bursts each one pounding it's helmet, then dodges the bears claw by jumping off it's arm and right over it, He takes aim in mid air fires one last shot and it's helmet shatters exposing it's head. The sniper girl already aiming through her scope pulls the trigger, the bullet soars right through it's head leaving a massive hole exposing the redish orange inside it falls over and shatters like glass into a million little pixels.

"Nice shot." I say giving her a thumbs up.

"Yeah that was impressive." Tadashi adds.

She slings the rifle back over her back. "I was off just a bit." She said. "Thanks for the assist." she added, smiling a bit.

"If you don't mind me asking what were you doing out here." Tadashi asked.

Her look turned sullen. "Looking for a friend And his brother we all got separated, I figured he'd be in Horunka so I'm headed there."

"We're headed there too we could escort you." I offered.

"Thanks but you guys have done enough I couldn't ask you too do that too."

"It's no problem." Tadashi said.

"Well thanks I'm Sinon by the way."

"Hoshi nice to meet you" Tadashi said

"Tuski" I said. So we headed back to the village with Sinon tagging along.

It didn't take long to reach the Horunka. "Well this is it." Tadashi said, As we approached the small village.

It was the same as it ever was a little village on the outskirts of the forest composed of mostly small NPC homes and a few shops.

"Good luck finding your friends." I said as we started to walk off.

"Hey at least let me buy you guys lunch." she called to us.

"Sure." I said excitedly, I was pretty hungry actually.

"I could eat." Tadashi said. So we found a nice looking restaurant and ordered.

"So Sinon how did you end up facing the Armored Ursa." I asked kicking my feet up on the table.

"I ended up running into that thing by mistake I couldn't kill it so I ran and it chased me and cornered me then that's when you guys showed up." She said. "Thanks again by the way."

"What about this friend of yours what's his name." Tadashi asked.

"Spiegel and his brother is Sterben."

"Alright now we know who to look for." Tadashi said.

 _No stopping him when he decides to help._

"What do you mean?" Sinon asked a puzzled expression on her face.

"What he means is we're gonna help you look." I said.

"I'm not complaining but why exactly?" she asked still looking confused.

"Well we've got nothing else to do and your gonna have a hard time on your own." Tadashi said.

Since then we've been trying to help her track down her friends. So far It's been a week and no luck.

 _Present day_

After killing the wolves we went to collect the quest reward, Cor which we split equally among us. We ended up in a small village a stones throw away from Honruka. We sat in the little plaza in the villages center on the benches.

"Well the mobs have almost been completely hunted down and we've done just about every quest." I said casting my eye's at the cloud filled sky.

"Well I hear that A expedition team is close to finding the boss to the first floor dungeon and a meeting will be called soon." Tadashi said.

 _Probably heard it from Argo._ He traded anything good we found out with her for other info.

"I think we should go any strong player who hears about it might be there maybe even your friends."

"What do you think Sinon?"

"I don't know." She sounded discouraged. I couldn't blame her our luck had sucked so far,so I guess I can see how she could start to feel that way.

"Don't worry I'm sure we'll find them at some point if we keep searching." I said laying a hand on her shoulder. "So don't lose hope yet." She smiled a bit.

"Your right no need to get all gloomy yet." She said.

"So what are we doing next boos man." I said, Tadashi sighed the moment I said it.

"Why do you insist on calling me everything but my username?"

"Cuz it sounds cool don't you think Boss man sounds cool Sinon?" I ask.

"I guess it's kinda cool." she said.

Tadashi let out another long sigh.

"Forget it." I think we should split up again and ask around about Sinon's friends.

"Gotcha,I'll take the east side." I said

"I'll cover north and south." Tadashi said.

"Then I've got the west." Sinon said. "We'll meet back up at the Inn." Tadashi said.

I'd asked around for about two hours and came up with nothing. I sighed as I took a seat on the stone wall at the edge of town.

 _Damn it's been like this all week moving from village to village grinding and asking around, the grinding was going fine but nobody seems to have seen her friends._ I was deep in thought when I heard it.

"Help! Help!." Someone screamed.

I looked up my train of thought broken. _That sounded like it came from the woods._

"Help!" they screamed again.

I jumped down and headed off towards the scream.

"Someone please help me!" They screamed, it sounded as though they were getting further and further away.

I stopped In the middle of a clearing I didn't hear screaming anymore. _Where did they go?_

Suddenly two people in masks emerged from the forest weapons drawn. They were dressed in all black fatigues and wearing black baklava.

"I can't believe he fell for that." A particularly short one holding a shotgun said.

"All your Items and Cor on the ground now." A taller one with the Assault rifle demanded.

I reached for my gun.

"Nope." Someone behind me said and I felt something cold and metal pressed against my head. "Try that again and your gonna lose more than your stuff." They warned and I slowly raised my hands,

 _Shit I'm screwed._

"You guys don't have to do this." I said.

"We do actually this is survival nothing personal." the short one says."Now stop stalling Cor and Items now." The tall one demanded.

I reluctantly swiped down opening the menu, all I could do was what that demanded and hope they didn't shoot me anyway. Suddenly a grenade landed in the middle of the clearing.

"Gren-!" The one behind me started. I cut him off by grabbing his arm and twisting it forcing him to drop the gun,Then punching him in the face.

From my quick look at him I saw that he wore a skull mask and a black cloak.

The grenade goes off releasing a cloud of smoke obscuring everybody's vision. I quickly use the opportunity to run. I took off out of the cloud of smoke and don't stop I wasn't going to, until suddenly someone grabbed me. They wrapped their hand around my mouth and pulled me behind a tree. I struggled but whoever they are there strong.

"Hey I threw the grenade calm down." They said in a hushed whisper, I chose to believe them and stopped struggling.

They released me and I turned to face them. Their face was hidden by a cloak They were wearing a silver chestplate a long sleeve blue shirt under it and long dark pants.

"Sorry about that didn't want you to scream and have them rush over here."They whispered. _I couldn't really tell if they were a boy or a girl._

"It's okay." I whispered. "You saved my life thanks."

"We're not out of this yet, We have to get back to town without them finding us." They said peeking from behind the tree.

"How's your sneak skill?" They asked.

"Pretty good." I said.

"Good follow me."

We managed to get back without running into my attackers. As we entered the town the sun was starting to set.

"I think we evaded them." The stranger said looking back.

"I'm sure we're fine." I said. "They wouldn't be dumb enough to try anything in town."

"Yeah your probably right." The stranger replied, with that they began to walk off.

"Hey you don't want anything for saving my life or anything." I called after them. They turned around slightly.

"Nah,no need." They turned and started to walk away again.

"Hey can I at least know the name of my savior?" I asked.

"Kiriko." They called back. _So a girl then._

"Well Kiriko I'm Tsuki. Thanks again for saving my rear end today, you're pretty awesome." I'm sure I could see a faint smile cross her lips.

"Your welcome." She said. That was the first time we met and even then for some reason I knew it wouldn't be the last.

 _Next chapter Beater._

Please leave a review let me know how I'm doing so far. If you thought it was crap say so feedback is crucial. Also Thank you for reading.


	3. Beater

Hi Ominous Star here. Well it's been longer than I wanted it to be since my last update, Laptop trouble and I'm in the process of moving so I may be a little slow on updates but don't worry this isn't something I plan on quitting. That's enough about my boring problems though. Thanks those of you who are reading this. Um I have made a sorta major edit the tech skills will be eliminated. That's all for now on with the story.

 _inner thoughts are in Italics like this_

[Sword skills] are in brackets like that.

Beater

December 2, 2022

It had been a month into this game and a week since I was nearly robbed and killed after that we all seemed more on guard. It meant the rumors were true players were killing other players. I still couldn't believe it, it pissed me off so much, having blood on your hands was one of the the worst feelings you could experience. It eats away at your soul everyday knowing you took a life. Didn't they realize that? No of course not they didn't want too, some probably didn't even care or didn't until it was too late. I knew that pain all too well.

"Hey Tsuki you okay?" Sinon asked looking concerned. I didn't realize it but I had been staring into space and she'd called my name several times.

"Yeah I'm okay." I said lying through my teeth,even giving a little fake smile.

"Are you sure? you haven't said a word all day,you can talk to us if you need to man." Tadashi said. Their concern was touching but they shouldn't worry themselves with me. _I'm not as worth it as they think._

"Thanks guys but really I'm fine." They both didn't look too convinced but they didn't press it. We were on our way to a meeting near the first floor dungeon, The leader of a expedition team had called a meeting. We geared up, stocked up on ammo got our armor upgraded and our weapons upgraded. I'd upgraded my micro Uzi with a scope, pistol stock, and extended clip.

We were ready after doing quests and grinding for so long. We were almost to the village Tolbana outside the dungeon from where we were we could easily see the tower that held the dungeon leading to the next floor. I stared up at the massive tower.

 _If we conquer this we're one step closer to going home._

I didn't realize how big the village was until we entered, It seemed to be nearly as large as the beginning city except it was way more residential there were way more Npc houses and shops . I saw several fountains spread out through the village,and players had set up plenty of stands selling their wares. We found a small cheap inn near the town center and rented a room for the day before heading out to the meeting.

In the distance I noticed a lot of other players gathered most likely here for the meeting too. They were heading towards what looked like a small amphitheater. We followed the crowd to it there was a large group not as many as I expected but still.

As I was Looking around taking in the other players my eyes fell on a familiar cloaked player with a sword visible on her back standing talking to another cloaked player. I headed over to the girl, grinning.

"Kiriko we meet again." I said. She turned and she didn't answer for a second. I guess she didn't remember me, I couldn't tell what she was thinking with her hood down.

"You know this guy Kiriko?" Her cloaked friend asked, she seemed slightly weary of me.

"Oh it's you, Tsuki." She said, finally. "I helped him out about a week ago."

"Yeah it's been a little while since you saved my butt." It was nice to see her again, I still had to pay her back somehow for her selfless heroism.

"So this is the one who saved you." Tadashi said as he and Sinon walked up. When He saw Kiriko he had this strange look for a brief second. _That's weird._

"I'm Hoshi nice to meet you." Tadashi said Smiling, like his little look never happened.

"Kiriko."

"I'm Sinon." The raven haired sniper said.

"Asuna." The cloaked girl said.

"So you guys must be here for the meeting as well." I said.

"Yeah from what I hear they found the boss." Kiriko said. "The guy who called the meeting Diavel is waiting a couple more minutes to make sure this is everyone."

"If that's true then we can move forward finally." Tadashi said.

"Alrgiht it seems like everyone's here." A voice said fom down below, We all turned now standing down below was a guy with light blue hair and eye's. He wore a bronze chestplate, pauldrons, boots,and arm guards with blue clothing. At his side was a long sword visible on his back was a buckler style riot shield and a Mp5. "Well now we can get started."

"First I'd like to thank all of you for coming. It's good to see you all." The blue haired guy said. "My name is Diavel and my chosen role in this game is knight." He said proudly pounding his chest.

A few guys laughed.

"Um dude there is no job system in this game." Some guy shouted.

"Hey you wanna hear what I gotta say or not." Diavel said looking slightly annoyed. They all quickly quieted down.

"Alright earlier today my party and I found the boss room at the top of the tower." His face and tone suddenly very serious. People broke out into whispers and gasps. _The rumors were true then._

"First we need to defeat the boss and reach floor two then we have to go to the town of beginnings and spread the word the game is beatable." Diavel continued. "It's our responsibility as the strongest players don't you think?"

At first a few people seemed apprehensive but soon a round of applause started,I even found myself clapping. _He was right our strength made this our responsibility._

"Glad were all in agreement. Now about how we'll go about defeating the boss, we should all form parties of six. Since typical parties stand no chance." After he said this people immediately started forming parties. Tadashi, Sinon, and I were only three and everyone else seemed to already be acquainted.

"Do you guys want to form a party with us?" Tadashi asked turning to Kiriko and Asuna.

"Well neither of us has a full party so yeah I think that's a good idea for the battle." Kiriko said.

"Only for the boss battle." Asuna added, they both swiped down opening their menus and sending their party invites.

The confirmation menu opened in front of Tadashi and he clicked accept.

"Alright now that it seems like the parties are formed-" Diavel started.

"Hold on a sec!" Someone from above interrupted. Everyone turned to find the person standing high above the stage. He hoped down and stood next to Diavel. The guy had a cactus like hair style a gruff look and a large sword and assault rifle across his back.

"I'm Kibaou got it." He said gruffly. "I got something to say. We all know about the two thousand people who died so far yeah?"

 _Of course who wouldn't know about that by now._

"Well some of you need to apologize to 'em right now!" _Don't tell me he means..._

"Kibaou I think I know who you mean the ex beta testers right?" Diavel said.

"Yeah they abandoned the other players at the start of this dumb ass game took all the good hunting spots and easy quests. They treated the other players like nothing." He said angrily. "Bet some of 'em are hiding here right now come on out!" He said waving his fist.

I was getting angry now, I really didn't like this guy. He didn't know a damn thing! Without Tadashi where would I be! I'd be rotting away in that beginning town like so many other players!

I looked over and Tadashi seemed as calm as usual somehow.

"We should make 'em apologize to us and give up all their items." He continued ranting. "They can't expect us to trust them if they don't trust us."

I was just standing up to rip the guy a new one.

"Hey can I say something." A rather large dark skinned guy with a goatee said standing. All eye's turned to him as he made his way down to Diavel and Kibaou.

He was a big guy bald, had a goatee, a large Axe and a shotgun across his back. Kibaou looked briefly afraid.

"Names Agil, Kibaou right? I wanna make sure I'm on the same page, you're saying the beta testers should be blamed for the rookies deaths and they should give up their stuff right?" Agil said.

"Y-yeah that's right." Kibaou said, obviously intimidated.

"The Item store hands these out for free." Agil said as He pulls out Argo's strategy guide. "You got one?"

"Yeah of course." Kibaou said.

"Well I guess you know the ex-beta testers wrote it right?" Agil asks.

Several people gasped in surprise and the look on Kibaou's face was priceless. Agil turned to the crowd.

"Everyone had equal access to this info and people still died. I didn't come here to point fingers and place blame I came here to learn from those deaths and to figure out how to beat the boss." Agil said.

A wide grin spread across my face. _I like this guy._

Kibaou with no more crap to say sits down in a huff,then Agil takes his seat as well.

"Alright if nobody else has anything to say let's continue the meeting." Diavel said. He pulled out the strategy guide.

"For info on the boss it's all in here it's name is Is Illfang the Kobold lord." he said opening the guide. "He wields a Axe and a buckler style riot shield, He has four health bars and when his health is low he switches to a tech SMG fitted with volt rounds that have chance to stun and keeps his shield, also he can change attack patterns."

"Surrounding him will be his minions the Ruin Kobold sentinels some are armed with assault rifles others maces." He shut the book. "Okay that's all for the briefing, We begin the raid tomorrow at 10 A.M sharp got it?" There were murmurs of agreement.

"Alright good. meeting adjourned people." He said. Some people got up and left others gathered around and talked. I noticed Sinon looking around.

"You spot 'em at all Sinon?"I ask looking around myself.

"No I guess he's not here." She Said that look of discourage returning, she hung her head. "But I won't stop looking." She said.

"WE won't you're not in this alone." I said, she looked up and smiled just a bit.

"Right. Thanks."

Out of the corner I saw Asuna walking off. "

Kiriko your friend-" I began.

"She likes being alone." She said watching her walk off. "She'll be back for the raid."

We all split after the meeting Tadashi said he had to talk to Argo about something. Kirko had something to take care of before the raid as well and I offered to help Sinon Look for her friend but She declined Saying

"Thanks but You and Hoshi have been doing most of the searching all week I got it today."

So I ended up browsing shops for a new weapon but I couldn't find one that was stronger than my current one. So I ended up buying some bread cuz I was kinda hungry and just headed back to the Inn.

I was still kinda pissed about that Kibaou dude he was an ass there was already enough hate towards beta testers. Tadashi was a good guy he could've abandoned me and didn't even have to save or offer to help Sinon. This was no time to point fingers or place blame it solved nothing.

I was rounding the corner to the inn when I saw Kiriko. She was sitting alone on a bench not doing much.

"Hey." I said as I took a seat on the far end of the bench. She looked over toward me. "Oh it's you." She said before She went back to looking off att he nearby fountain. The atmosphere was a little awkward cause of the silence. So I asked something to break it.

"Hey Kiriko are you hungry?" I asked remembering I brought a ton of bread,she didn't answer right away.

"Yeah a little why?" I opened my inventory and pulled out two pieces of bread and toss one to her.

She caught it easily.

"You don't have too give me this. I was actually gonna go buy some later."

I waved my hand in protest.

"No it's the least I can do for someone who saved my life."

"I told you you didn't owe me anything."

"I know but you saved me I feel like it's only right to do something to pay you back even if it's little by little." I saw that small smile cross her lips again it was kinda cute.

I took a bite of my bread, wasn't a beef bowl but it was good.

Kiriko took out a small jar and placed it on the bench.

"Try putting some of that on it makes it taste better." I reached down and touched the jar and my fingers began to glow blue. I touched the bread and something sticky and yellow spread across it.

"Honey? I didn't know they had that in the game." I said before taking a bite. "Wow that's delicious." I exclaimed.

Kiriko spread some across her bread and took a few bites.

"I got it from a quest in the village before this one. I could tell you if you want."

"Nah. It's good but nows not the time for me to go chasing down honey." I said, we ate in silence for a minute.

"Hey Kiriko you think we're gonna win tomorrow." I asked breaking the silence.

"I'm sure of it." she said confidently.

"Yeah we have to don't we?" I ask.

"Yes. We do." She said before finishing her bread.

"I don't want those people in the starting town to rot away, defeated having no hope never having tried." I said looking up at the sky. "That's the worst way to live, with no hope." I realized I was saying all this to someone I barely know probably boring them to death.

"Sorry about that I guess I just needed to talk to someone." I said apologetically.

"It's okay I don't mind, your right we do have to do it not only for ourselves but for those players as well." She said before She stood and turned to me.

"Hey Tsuki good luck tomorrow."

"Good luck to you too." I said, she nodded and walked off. I sat there a little longer before leaving for heading back to the Inn and sleeping.

We all woke up early and headed to the meeting spot. When we arrived everyone was split into squads A through F except us. We were assigned as the support squad, we were supposed to handle the minions and keep them off the other squads. After that we all headed for the dungeon.

"Hey Tsuki." Tadashi said as we entered the dungeon. "Yeah?" "Here I got this yesterday for you." He said holding out his hand. I it was a rare looking dagger. It was curved and black with a silver edge. [Midnight Fang]

"It's attack is three times better than yours and it adds 4 to AGI and DEX." He added.

"Thanks man." I said, taking it and equipping it.

"Your welcome, we all have to be at our best today." He said.

"Yeah we gotta win this."

It took a little while for us to fight our way to the Door to the boss room but it was easy with this many players. The chamber that lead the the door was massive and lit by torches, leading to an equally massive door. Everyone took a short break to get their items in order. Our party took up the rear ready to fight to keep the minions off the main squads. I felt a tiny bit nervous to be honest this floor boss was gonna be way stronger than anything we'd faced before.

"Is everyone ready!" Diavel asked.

Everyone gave a shout or nod.

"Alright let's win!" he shouted as he opened the door.

Diavel opened the door and we all stepped through into the dark chamber ready to bring down this Kobold lord.

As we entered the the dark room I could barely make out the glowing red eye's of a creature in the very back of the chamber. Suddenly bright light filled the chamber, the wall glowed strange rainbow patterns also illuminating the stone room.

Suddenly from the back a roar echoed and a large red Kangaroo like creature with a shield and axe lands in front of us. It was wearing a helmet, gauntlets, a chestplate, and a loincloth. It roars again and it's name appears above his head [Illfang The Kobold Lord], along with his health bars, and several minons wearing full armor appear the names Ruin Kobold sentinels above their heads.

"Attack!" Diavel shouted. We all charged weapons ready.

The Kobold's were putting up a fierce battle but Once the battle started I felt calm, ready to face the enemy. A Kobold sentinel jumped in front of me swinging it's mace at my head, I ducked under stabbing it in the stomach and pulling up shattering it into pixels. Another one charged from my right only to have it's attack countered by a [Horizontal] from Kiriko the slash knocking away his mace followed by a [Slant] leaving a diagonal slash across his chest shattering him.

Sinon was patrolling the edge of the battlefield expertly picking off enemies that tried to flank and ambush.

One of them charged Asuna, she drew back her rapier which glowed a light green activating [Triple strike] quickly hitting him with three sharp stabs the chest destroying his chestplate. Her movements were fast I could barely see her sword's tip. The Kobold she struck wasn't quite dead and got up for more, she did a switch with Tadashi who quickly cut it across it's chest destroying the Kobold. That was the last of the first wave of minions.

I turned to see the main squads fighting Illfang. They were trying to shoot his non armored body parts seeing as shots to his armor did no damage but Illfang was quicker than he looked blocking shots with his Shield and keeping them at bay with his axe. After a few orders from Diavel they quickly created a opening.

"Squad C switch Squad B Attack!" Diavel ordered, Agil and Kibaou leapt in slashing him dealing a blow that lowered the bosses health to it's second bar.

Illfang let out a roar summoning more of his minions this time they were armed with assault rifles, M16's.

"Support squad handle those minions!" Diavel ordered.

"Got it." I said, sheathing my Dagger as I drew my micro and fired destroying one's helmet and putting a bullet through it's head. As that one fell three more fired at me Lucky my AGI is my highest stat I saw the prediction lines just in time to dodge, duck, and roll behind a pillar.

"Crap!" I shouted as bullets pounded against the pillar. A loud sound echoed through the chamber and I heard a sound like shattering glass. Peeking from around the corner I saw a koblod with no head now, the rest turned to focus their fire on the sniper that shot there comrade.

 _Thanks Sinon._

Kiriko rushed one of the remaining one's from the side cutting it's rifle in half and drawing her handgun putting it to her head and firing shattering him like glass. I rushed the other cutting it's head off in one slash. I spotted Asuna headshoting the last one with her handgun, her and Tadashi standing back to back. This was going better than I thought we were winning without losing anyone.

The last two waves of minons went well for us, we took them out with ease. A massive roar drew my and everyone else's attention to Illfang. The bosses health was nearly gone his last health bar was in the red.

"I've got this everyone stay back!" Diavel said charging a sword skill his sword enveloped in light.

He dropped his axe and pulled out a SMG but something about it looked a little off I'd seen volt guns before this seemed slightly different. Diavel charged ready to cut down Illfang.

"Wait Diavel!" Kiriko shouted she and Tadashi rushed to Stop him. Illfang took aim the prediction line right on his chest and fired a shot, Diavel raised his shield, the shot collided with his shield causing a huge explosion. Diavel screamed in pain as his shield shattered and and he was sent flying across the room skipping across the ground like a stone on water. It felt like an eternity before he came to a stop lying there for a second before suddenly shattering into a million tiny little pixels. Illfang's gun was a Tech SMG fitted with explosive rounds not explosive rounds. Everyone froze there was complete silence for a few seconds. We'd lost our leader.

"YOU BASTARD!" kibaou shouted his voice filled with rage.

He rushed Illfang his sword held over his head, Illfang took aim again aiming right at Kibaou head. A bullet collided with Illfang's helmet throwing his aim off, he fired a shot that exploded right in front of Kibaou sending him flying but not killing him. I had to do something or Illfang would kill who knows how many players.

Kiriko, Tadashi, and Asuna walked up beside me. We didn't speak but we all shared a look,we knew what we had to do. We charged at Illfang as he prepared to fire again, Sinon fired at his head again to distract him, this time Illfang raised his shield blocking then fired a barrage of shots causing us to scatter. One of the shots still caught me and Kiriko her cloak was shattered and she was sent flying into me, we rolled across the room I ended up on top of her.

I was dazed for a second and when I opened my eye's I looked up to find Illfang aiming right at us the prediction line right on us. I thought it was over, my life didn't matter that much to me but Kiriko would get caught in it too. I tried my best to at least shield her from the blast. Suddenly Bullets pounded against Illfang's armor Agil and the other players were distracting it. I got up And helped Kiriko too her feet.

"Thanks." She said. Loking at her my jaw nearly dropped she was beautiful, her hair was long and black reaching her lower back, and her eye's were a shining purple with long eyelashes. She took a potion and I continued to stare. "Let's go." she said readying her gun and her sword. I snapped out of it hoping she didn't notice and nodded.

Tadashi and Asuna were keeping him busy with covering fire. Kiriko and I charged the boss from behind, Illfang turned ready to fire, a shot from Sinon hit him right in his leg knocking him off balance. Taking advantage of the distraction Kiriko uses a sword skill [Sonic leap] She held the sword behind her back until it glowed blue then shoots into the air and slashes down cutting Illfang from his shoulder to hip, I then rushed and use one of my favorite sword skills [Rapid fang] I drew my dagger back until it glows a light green and release a flurry of stabs shattering his chestplate and sending him flying. Kiriko rushes Illfang before he can recover, She runs at him Charging [Slant] and Slices Illfang across his chest, Ilfang gave one more roar before shattering into pixels.

The Music that played, the huge congratulations text box and even the cor and multilevel up felt out of place we had lost Diavel. I didn't know him well but he brought us together for a good cause and was a great leader. _I hope you rest in peace._ I silently thought. Kiriko was crouching panting obviously exhausted from the battle. I walked over and offered a hand. She smiled and took my hand and I helped her to her feet.

Tadashi, Sinon and, Asuna rushed over.

"Wow guy's that was pretty awesome." Tadashi said giving a thumbs up.

"Yeah great job." Asuna said, a Smilie on her face for once.

Some of the other player's began to cheer.

"Stop cheering!" Kibaou yelled, all eye's turned to him. "Why!? Why did you let Diavel die!" He shouted angrily Glaring at Kiriko."You knew what kind of gun he was using you could have told us!"

"I know how she knew she's a beta tester." Another guy shouted.

"Hey,who the hell cares!" I shouted. "Beta Tester or not she just saved all of you are you really gonna just ignore that."

"You shut up, she let Diavel die!" Kibaou screamed.

"Diavel charged in on his own recklessly did you ever think why?" Tadashi said calmly. "He knew about the bonus you got if you got the last strike against the boss,How? Well that's because he was a beta tester just like her and me." He said, this shocked everyone into silence. "A beta tester that brought together and lead all of you."

"That only proves none of you damn beta testers can be trusted." Kibaou said. "Not you or her." It was getting heated and it seemed the majority still agreed with Kibaou this wasn't good there was gonna be trouble.

"Hahahahaha." Kiriko laughed darkly getting everyone's attention.

"A beta tester? don't compare me with those Noobs." She said a dark smile on her face. "The reason I knew is because I reached floors higher than any beta tester most of those noobs barely knew how to level up like this one." She said pointing out Tadashi.

"I know lot's more than any info broker or beta noob." Something seemed very wrong with how she was acting.

"Then your worse than a beta tester your a cheater a... goddamn beater! " Kibaou Shouted angrily waving his fist.

"Yeah a beater I like that as long as you don't confuse me with those beta Noobs." She opened her inventory and equipped a long black coat and walked away. I took off after her catching her as she was halfway up the stairs.

"Kiriko!" I called, she turned as she reached the top step.

"Yeah."

"I know what you were doing you're not that good of a liar." I whispered making sure no one else could hear.

She laughed a bit

"I'm not am I?" She said softly.

"Don't do this don't be their scapegoat. You don't deserve that."

"Somebody has to be." She said. "Hey do me a favor consider it paying me back."

"Sure, what is it?" I asked.

"Watch over Asuna for me, don't let her be alone." I nodded.

"Of course." She opened the menu and left the party. She headed up the stair's and to door and stopped in front of it.

"And Tsuki?" She called back.

"Yeah?" she turned her head enough for me to make out a mischievous grin. "I noticed you staring." she said. I turned bright red as she walked away giggling through the doors to the second floor.

 _Next chapter Crashing Star_

Reviews are helpful and much appreciated, I really like feedback on how I'm doing good or bad and suggestions are welcome. I'd really like to know some thoughts on the fight scenes. Thanks for reading!


	4. Reason of absence

I figured I that this has been long enough putting this off even though I'm sure virtually no one cares at this point like two years later but hey I figured I should say it any way. I'm taking a break from from this maybe permanently I'm not sure I liked the direction this was going, or the style I wore it in, and a lot of the mistakes I made disappointed me. If I do come back to it I feel as though I should revamp it and change a lot but as of right now I'm not really sure about that. If anyone actually read through all of that or actually still cared about this I apologize for taking so long to say that and thank you for reading as always.


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